1x02 Honky Tonk Women

[7.2/10] This one is kind of weird. I don’t know how I feel about plotting that requires the giant coincidence of Spike walking into a casino and losing all but his last chip at blackjack when, it turns out, someone who looks just like him is supposed to go into a casino and lose all but one chip at the same table. I don’t mind some coincidence in storytelling, but that one was a stretch even for me.

I’m also not crazy about Faye Valentine. She’s oversexualized from the jump with a leering gaze in her opening scene that doesn’t stop from there. I can appreciate that she’s resourceful and self-possessed, able to use her wits, her tech, and her ship to get out of most jams, so she has potential. But in the beginning, she feels like a bit of a cool girl fantasy, and you can just feel the show setting up her and Spike to have Beatrice/Benedick chemistry from here forward. The character design is a little off to me as well.

Speaking of Spike, I’m getting a little tired of him as a character who can do anything and everything without really trying. Him being so good at cards that he has to try to lose, so good at fighting that he can juke and defeat casino pit bosses without breaking a sweat, and so good at zero gravity movement that he can duck and dodge gunfire in space and still get his chip back starts to make him feel overpowered for lack of a better term, especially given his slacker attitude toward everything. He’s starting to feel like a wish fulfillment character rather than someone with talents and flaws to match.

I do appreciate the delicate criminal negotiations here. Jet and Spike trying to negotiate with the casino boss on the one hand, with the expectation at play that each might doublecross the other, while Faye plays the wildcard, is a good setup. THere’s layers here, with the guys initially just wanting to make some regular money, to getting the bounty on Faye’s head, to getting this super chip, with complications all around. That part of the plotting is solid.

And for all my gripes about Spike, the action is cool to see too. His zero gravity jumps and butt-kicking may make him seem too good, but there’s visual panache to it, which helps cover for a lot. Likewise, while the animation is a little jumpy, Faye’s big escape and flight through the missile on her tail makes for some superb visuals as well.

My only other gripe is that this is twice in two episodes that our heroes have simply stumbled on some nigh-magical technology thing, whether it’s a mysterious “data dog” or a casino chip holding a decoder microchip, that can theoretically make them wealthy. Hopefully the show finds new plots, or at least new ways for Jet and Spike to end up with the MacGuffin of the week, rather than repeating this same trope over and over again.

Overall, I’m still trying to keep an open mind, but starting to have my reservations about whether the show can live up to its hype in my eyes.